If the state Legislature votes to give the state education secretary the authority to reassign high school students from Duquesne within the next few days, the districts they will be assigned to should be announced by the end of the week.

	Bill Wade, Post-Gazette Lina Washington, a Duquesne resident, voices her concerns about not getting answers -- including where her daughter Brandi Washington, 17, a senior, will go to school -- from the members of the Special Board of Control members at a meeting last night at the Duquesne Education Center. Click photo for larger image.

But it will be Aug. 3 before Duquesne students know which of the districts they will attend.

That was the news from Shawn Farr, chairman of the state board of control that oversees the Duquesne City School District, at a special meeting of the board last night.

Yesterday the state Senate passed a version of the school code that gives Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak the authority to reassign the 200 Duquesne high school students to other districts on a tuition basis.

The receiving districts must be within three miles of the borders of the Duquesne district. The number of students who can be assigned to any one of the designated districts is limited to 165.

The state House may vote on the measure today and Board of Control Member Stanley Denton said he was fairly confident that the House will approve it.

Last night's meeting was held to approve the district's $14.7 million 2007-08 budget and an agreement with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit to manage the district, which now houses only grades K-8. The board of control voted to close the high school on June 5.

But much of the meeting was taken up by an explosive public comment session during which parents of high school students blasted the board of control for the lack of information they have received about where their children will go to school for the 2007-08 school year.

The frustration they brought to the meeting was only amplified when they found out they would have to wait until Aug. 3 to find out where their children would attend school.

They also had questions about what would happen if the new school plan is rejected by the House, as a different version was earlier this month. Some noted the current state school code calls for students of a closed high school to attend the nearest or most conveniently located high school, and they wanted to know when they could invoke that clause.

But there appeared to be no easy answers.

Dr. Denton told the parents the process has been slowed by the Legislature's lack of action on the school code and state budget.

Geneva Washington said the process has been extremely stressful for her family as she has one child who will be a senior and two others entering 11th grade. "Our children are hurting so bad because they don't have a school," Ms. Washington said.

"Now they are going to go to a school with kids they don't know and who don't want them."

Ms. Washington and other parents said they were tired of people in the surrounding school districts saying they don't want the Duquesne students and they claimed that postings on the Internet site MySpace.com indicate that West Mifflin and East Allegheny students plan to make trouble for the Duquesne students who may come to their schools.

A number of the high school parents became frustrated with the lack of information available to them and the left the meeting.

Mr. Farr said there will be another board of control meeting next Tuesday at which more information may be available. An orientation session for parents and students has been set for 7 p.m. July 25 in the auditorium of the Duquesne Education Center.

Following the orientation session will be a selection process for students to choose the district they prefer. The school assignments then should be made by Aug. 3.

The board last night approved an agreement with the Department of Education and the Allegheny Intermediate Unit for the AIU to manage the Duquesne district and oversee the academic program for grades K-8.

Duquesne will pay the AIU $300,000 from an additional $2 million appropriation it received from the state, Mr. Farr said. The agreement is for one year through June 30 but can be extended on a year-to-year basis through June 30, 2102.

AIU Executive Director Donna Durno will serve as Duquesne's superintendent of record.

Mr. Farr likened the agreement to one that Duquesne had with the Pittsburgh Public Schools for the 2006-07 school year. That agreement expired June 30.